This special issue of the KM&EL international journal is dedicated to coverage of advances in the emerging area of eHealth literacy. Methods for assessing the extent to which people can find, understand and use health information obtained from electronic sources (i.e. eHealth literacy) are needed in order to improve the effectiveness of healthcare in the age of mobile and virtual healthcare. Indeed an increasing number of information systems and resources have been designed for use by the general population as well as specific patient and lay populations such as the elderly, disabled and the young. However, there currently exists a huge range of systems and health IT applications and the extent to which they meet the information and understanding needs of end users is often questionable. Indeed many health systems, websites and on-line resources have been criticized for not only lack of usability but also for issues related to the content of information, its understandability, its usefulness and its presentation. In addition, new methods (that can draw from areas such as health literacy, as well as user-centered and participatory health IT design processes) are needed to fine-tune and improve the uptake of information presented to users in order to improve the health of the general population.

In this call we invite papers that describe advances in understanding health literacy as it relates to use of on-line health resources and the concept of eHealth literacy itself. In addition, the special issue is interested in new approaches to improving health and eHealth literacy, and improving the adoption of systems and information resources targeted to patients, lay people and the general population, as well as specific subgroups (such as the elderly, disabled and young people). This can be through improved educational initiatives as well as improved system and information resource design and evaluation. Studies evaluating health and eHealth literacy using information technologies are also welcome.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

eHealth literacy as a concept

The relation of eHealth literacy to health literacy research

Advances in the application of concepts from eHealth literacy in the design and deployment of new information technologies

Research on the potential and opportunities for improving the uptake of health related information using eHealth, web technologies, mobile health applications and virtual health applications

Approaches to measuring and assessing eHealth literacy

Approaches to assessing user needs regarding health information and its understanding and translation into practice

Approaches to designing health information systems for the public that better take into account the information needs, understanding, capacity as well as limitations of end users

Approaches and technologies for providing distance health information and support to lay people and patients

Results of studies examining eHealth literacy

Educational practices and approaches to improving eHealth literacy

New developments, trends and approaches to e-learning and distance education of the general public that takes into consideration eHealth literacy

This issue is designed to elicit both theoretical and applied papers that describe efforts around eHealth literacy. We are interested in both theoretical and applied papers that aim to improve healthcare and specifically improve uptake of health information by the wider population using information technologies and online resources. We would like to stimulate interest in the issues across academia, practice, industry, research and policy and therefore we welcome focused papers from all sectors.

Important Dates(NEW)

Submission due: 15th October, 2015

Notification of acceptance: 30thNovember, 2015

Publication schedule: December, 2015 (Vol. 7. No. 4)

Submission Instructions

Electronic submission by email to the Guest Editor is required (andrek@uvic.ca).